February 2013 Archives
Solar:
Setting solar records in California is getting just a little bit commonplace: so far in February, the Golden State has broken six all-time solar records.
Government:
Ernest Moniz, likely to be nominated to succeed Steven Chu as Energy Secretary, has a history of pushing both natural gas fracking and aggressive nuclear power development.
Wind:
A U.S. District Court judge will hear arguments Friday that construction on the Ocotillo express Wind facility in Imperial County should be stopped.
Commentary:
It's become clear that developers are increasingly eyeing the area just north and east of the Mojave National Preserve.
Science:
That battery life video that had gone viral due to a recent post on UpWorthy now has an update.
Wildlife:
ReWire reported that we'd learned the North Sky River wind facility in Kern County had been the site of an eagle death. North Sky River's owner offered us a comment on the eagle's death.
Wildlife:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering eliminating most public oversight of wind turbine impacts on protected bald and golden eagles by offering developers 30-year permits to kill eagles by accident, as opposed to the current 5-year permits. What's more, they're shaping the implementation of that proposed policy change in a series of private "stakeholders'" meetings to which the public is not invited.
Wind:
The North Sky River Wind project, which attracted fierce opposition from environmental groups concerned about potential threat to eagles and California condors, was the site of a golden eagle death in January.
Science:
There's a video making the viral rounds describing a potential energy storage device that seems way too good to be true: a high capacity "battery" made in an almost absurdly simple process which can be safely composted at the end of its useful life.
Photovoltaic (PV):
Solar manufacturers in California produced over 46 million pounds of hazardous waste between 2007 and 2011.
News and analysis about renewable energy in California. Blog host Chris Clarke is an environmental writer of two decades standing. He currently lives in Joshua Tree and can be contacted at: rewire@kcet.org.
- Wind Power
- PV and Solar Thermal
- Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI)
- Watts and Watt-Hours, Kilo and Mega
- 'Enough To Power X Thousand Homes'
- The Grid
- Distributed Generation
- Conservation and 'Negawatts'
- Grid Storage
- PACE Loans, Feed In Tariffs and Net Metering
- Base Load and Peaking Power
- Capacity Factor
- Renewable Portfolio Standards
- Biomass
- Transportation and Renewable Energy
- Geothermal
